Paint remover and surfacing tool



Aug. 21, 1962 c. A. LANTTO PAINT REMOVER AND SURFACING TOOL Filed May 4, 1960 Unite States This invention relates to a device for use in combination with a power drive, such as a portable electric motor, for the purpose of resurfacing relatively flat areas or surfaces of a somewhat convex form within reasonable limits and is more particularly devised for the removal of paint or similar coatings from wood prior to the refinishing of such a surface.

I am aware that a number of devices for use with such drive means and for similar purposes have been heretofore employed, but these have been characterised by the use of sanding discs, wire brushes, or rotary scrapers of various types, having a relatively wide area of surface contact of the cutting or scraping elements with the work and offering considerable resistance to the penetration of such elements into the surface of the work: so that precise and positive limitation of the extent to which the elements may be projected from a surrounding housing is not especially called for as, in such cases, variating and sometimes unevenly applied pressure is the controlling factor in determining the cut of the tool.

The present invention has for its object to provide a device wherein pointed scribers (as distinguished from relatively wide faced elements) are rotated in a circular path within the closely adjacent circular wall of a housing from which, in operation, the points of said scribers are projected to a quite limited extent determined by pre-set stop means, say, to from five to ten thousandths of an inch, or approximately to that of a normal film of paint to be removed from a surface. In operation the open face of the housing would be manually traversed laterally in one direction and another over the surface of the work while the scribers are being rotated at high speed by the driving means, so that when the points of the scribers are projected from the housing to their limited extent, they will scratch a progressively overlapping series of arcuate grooves resulting in a highly effective and complete removal of the surface to a predetermined depth throughout a desired area.

Still further objects or advantages additional or subsidiary to the aforesaid objects, or resulting from the construction or operation of the invention as it may be carried into effect, will become apparent as the said invention is hereinafter further disclosed.

In carrying the said invention into effect, I may adopt the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, by Way of example, having reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of the improved device with part of the housing broken away and in section; and

FIGURE 2 is a detail end view of one of the scribers.

indicates an electric motor such as that of a hand drill provided with a chuck 11 shown as engaging a drive shaft 12 of the present device; 13 being a housing which is open at one end has a bearing 14 mounted in the other end thereof for said drive shaft. '15 indicates a thrust bearing.

The outer end of the shaft 12 is shown as carrying a rotor 16 which, in this case, is in the form of a cross-bar the ends 16' of which are bent forwardly thereof and provided with terminal scribers 17, which are preferably of Carboloy or similar wear-resisting materials.

The drive shaft is slidable in its bearings against the yielding resistance of a spring 18 to an extent determined by an adjustable stop 19 mounted on said drive shaft and secured in positions of adjustment by micrometer nuts 20 so that, in operation, the drive shaft may be moved by end-wise pressure exerted by the weight of the motor 10, or by manual pressure, to move the points of the scribers slightly beyond the rim of the housing, as indicated in dotted lines in FIGURE 1 of the drawing.

It will be obvious that, in operation, the open end of said housing is positioned against the surface of the work, while the said housing is held against rotation as by means of a handle 21, and the points of the scribers are pressed into the said surface to the extent limited by the stop 19, Thus, as the said scribers are rapidly rotated by the electric motor and the housing traversed in various directions over the surface of the work, the continuous scratches produced by the scribers may be caused to overlap in all of such directions of movement in such manner as to completely remove the surface of the work to a predetermined depth throughout any desired area.

Where paint or other surface film is to be removed, the pre-determined projection of the points of the scribers from the housing may be positively limited to substantially that of the thickness of such film.

As shown in FIGURE 1, part of the side wall of the housing may be removed, as at 13, to permit the scribing action to be carried out close to a limiting boundary as a result of the rotation of said scribers in close proximity within said walls.

This invention may be developed within the scope of the following claims without departing from the essential features of the said invention, and it is desired that the specification and drawing be read as being merely illustrative of a practical embodiment of the same and not in a strictly limiting sense.

What I claim is:

1. A paint remover and surfacing tool comprising in combination, a cylindrical housing open at one end, a co-axial bearing in the other end of said housing, a rotary and slidable drive shaft in said bearing, a rotor on said shaft within said housing, a diametrically disposed pair of pointed scribing elements carried by said rotor adjacent the housing wall, spring means normally retracting said rotor within said housing, and stop means limiting the operative forward projection of the scribing elements beyond the face of said housing, whereby lateral movement of said device over work will result in a surfacing action in increments of a progressively overlapping circular series of scribed grooves thereon.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein said stop means is of a micrometer form carried by said drive shaft.

3. A paint remover and surfacing tool comprising in combination, a cylindrical housing open at one end, a coaxial bearing in the other end of said housing, a rotary and slidable drive shaft in said bearing, a rotor on said shaft within said housing, pointed scribing elements carried by said rotor adjacent the housing wall, spring means normally retracting said rotor within said housing, and stop means limiting the operative forward projection of the scribing elements beyond the face of said housing, whereby lateral movement of said device over work will result in a surfacing action in increments of a progresr. r r r 3 sively overlapping circular series of scribed grooves thereon, the side wall of said housing being cut away tangentially to expose said scribing elements whereby to permit their operation close to a limiting boundary of work to which said device may be applied.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,011,490 Rasmesen Dec. 12, 1911 4 Faiver Sept. 27, 1927 Walker May 10, 1932 Card Dec. 21, 1937 Kaiser Dec. 31, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Sept. 20, 1902 

